


Pedantry

by amyfortuna



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Gen, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 17:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5098577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/pseuds/amyfortuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What Elrond really thinks about Bilbo's poem of Eärendil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pedantry

**Author's Note:**

> _A ship then new they built for him_  
>  _of mithril and of elven-glass_  
>  _with shining prow; no shaven oar_  
>  _nor sail she bore on silver mast_  
>  \- Bilbo Baggins
> 
>  _"Otherwise he obviously thought the whole thing rather above my head, and he said that if I had the cheek to make verses about Eärendil in the house of Elrond, it was my affair. I suppose he was right."_  
>  \- Bilbo Baggins, referring to Aragorn
> 
>  _"For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name."_  
>  \- Gandalf

Elrond, Master of Rivendell, is a polite and kind person by nature; far be it from him to object to anyone's creative work, least of all their resident hobbit, who really is very good for someone who has lived such a short time. 

He politely applauds whenever Bilbo recites his poem about Eärendil, even though his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. It's not that he's opposed to poems about his father, as Aragorn thinks - Aragorn, who having lost a father himself, forgets that Elrond's had two whole Ages of this world to reconcile himself to all the complicated emotions about all of...that. It's not Eärendil at all that bothers him. 

It's mithril. Mithril doesn't exist in Valinor. He knows this because he was there when Celebrimbor first encountered the metal. Some Dwarves from Moria came to Lindon at the start of the Second Age to propose a trade alliance with Gil-galad's newly-established realm, and the metal in some of their jewellery caught Celebrimbor's eye. Surprised and delighted, he had praised it wholeheartedly, saying that not even the land of the Valar contained such a beauteous metal, nor had it existed in Beleriand. 

It surprised no one when Celebrimbor founded Ost-in-Edhil in Hollin not far away from Moria soon after. 

So evidently mithril did not exist in Valinor, or Celebrimbor, a fully-grown and trained smith from the foremost family of the Noldor even before leaving Valinor, certainly would have known of it. 

Therefore Eärendil's ship could not be made of mithril, but was surely forged of some other metal. 

It's a small point, not worth correcting. He doesn't know what metal it would have been, in any case, and to change it would throw off the rhythm of the poem. 

He grits his teeth, and bears it in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> _Also "his wings him bore?" A terrible line. Maglor would shudder._


End file.
